


To Build a Home

by PlasmaBooks



Series: Shelter [3]
Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, im fine i swear, it's angst again hahaha, little cato goes back to the place where he was abused, more backstory for this au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 09:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17743517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlasmaBooks/pseuds/PlasmaBooks
Summary: Little Cato doesn't know why his parents took him to a creepy abandoned house, until he steps into a certain room and remembers everything.





	To Build a Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is, quite possibly, the most down-to-earth story I've ever written for this fandom. 
> 
> If you enjoyed the story, please comment! They make my day.

He knows that look he sees in Gary’s eyes when they glance at each other as the truck rumbles down the gravel road. It’s uncertainty, doubt, anxiety. Gary’s eyes are asking the same question Avocato has been asking himself since early in the morning.

_Is he really ready for this?_

It’s another question he doesn’t want the answer to.

The Ventrexian kit in question sits in the backseat, staring at the unfamiliar world around him with no clue where they could possibly be heading. He had half the mind to ask if they were actually lost. But then he looks ahead and sees a long, winding path going up the slope of a hill. And then he sees a house. It looks almost like new, with only a little bit of dirt and grime around the painted beams supporting the high porch. The house seats on top of the hill, completely painted white, looking very lonely.

He doesn’t know what they’re supposed to be doing here, and he immediately assumes they’re going to be moving.

The truck pulls to a stop at the base of the hill, and Little Cato unbuckles his seatbelt in time with his parents.

“Come on son.” Avocato mumbles, and Little Cato swears he hears sadness on that voice.

Gary is the last to get out of the truck.

The moment Little Cato’s feet touch the ground, he finds that the leaves from the past Autumn go up past his ankles.

He takes another quick look around the place and frowns; the yard looks like it hasn’t been tended to in years. He begins to follow Avocato and Gary up over that steep, steep hill, still entirely confused, still wondering why everything is so quiet, still wondering why Gary is suddenly so depressed about being here.

They stop right before they get on the porch, and Avocato looks up, up, up, at the door.

Silence follows until he breaks it.

“Little Cato.” He says, his voice suddenly serious in a way that actually sends fear into his son.

“Do you know where we are?”

Little Cato takes another look around, just to see if there’s any other indicators that the place really is abandoned.

“Uh… no… no, I don’t know where we are.”

A deep sigh follows from the older Ventrexian, and he shares a look with the still very-dismal-looking Gary.

“This is… this is where you were born.” It sounds like Avocato will give him time to process the sentence, but he only continues, “Where I found you that day on my shift.”

Little Cato looks up at the porch now too, his eyes widened slightly as the realization draws in.

“You mean this is where they… my parents… m-my old-”

“ _Don’t_ … call them that.” Avocato snaps suddenly, making both Gary and Little Cato jump. Avocato takes time to calm before speaking again.

“They were your abusers. And this is where I found you, ten years ago. You were just an infant. Covered up by two heavy leather jackets, unfed, uncleaned, and neglected.”

A memory shoots back to Little Cato. It’s a memory of darkness. Darkness, fear, and an insurmountable weight on his chest.

“Why did you…” He stutters, breathlessly. His eyes are fixed on the door.

“Why did you bring me here…?”

“Because you need to know.” Avocato says simply, and then he starts for the porch stairs, the first movement in a while. “Follow.”

Little Cato does so, but can’t help but worry and fret over the possible fact they might be trespassing. They got permission to be there, right? He tried to push it away, to find comfort in the fact that his Dad literally worked under the law force, but the worry was always there. He surveys every inch of the double-wide trailer he can see as they head up to the porch, to the door that seems to hold him in such a trance. Then, the door clicks open, and Little Cato hesitates before taking a step right into the unknown.

For a house that looks abandoned, it’s surprisingly well-kept on the inside. There’s a faux wooden floor and a fireplace at the end of the living room to decorate. Straight ahead of them is the entryway to the kitchen, and to their left, a hallway leading somewhere else. Avocato goes left and into a bedroom, and Little Cato follows. The moment Little Cato steps in and turns his head to the right and catches sight of that closet, it all comes flying back.

_It’s dark. It’s dark and oh god he can’t breathe. He doesn’t understand, he’s just a baby. Why won’t his parents help him? They’re right there. Why won’t they help him? What did he do wrong?_

“They left you in here all by yourself. To die.” Avocato says bluntly, glaring at the floor inside of the closet. “If I hadn’t have found you, I’d never know you.”

“Why do I need to know about this…?” The frail whisper comes across the air.

He hates it in this room.

He hates it in this house.

“Because I need you to be able to know your worth when the time comes where I can’t remind you.”

“Wh-What…?”

Avocato stays silent for a moment, and his dagger-cut glare remains.

“I need you to be able to stand up for yourself if somebody tries to hurt you again. Whoever you date, whoever you fall in love with, it doesn’t matter. But if they try to hurt you when I’m not around, and you don’t know how to stand up for yourself, you’ll be in trouble.”

“I-I don’t… why are you speaking of them like they’re-... they were my parents… for a while… they-they had to have had some re-”

“Do you think they loved you?” The question is spoken in such a snap that it strikes a pang of fear into Little Cato’s heart.

Gary speaks for the first time since they got there. “Avocato…”

“Do you think they loved you?” Avocato repeats, and Little Cato’s heart leaps to his throat as the taller Ventrexian whirls around to face him. “Do you think it’s okay that they locked you in a closet? Do you think they wanted you?”

“Avocato!”

For the first time in forever, Little Cato cowers in the presence of his father.

“I-I don’t know!”

“They left you to die!” Avocato yells.

“I know, I just-!”

“AVOCATO!”

The final cry cuts across the air. Gary is the one to change the aura.

“Stop it. He’s just a kid, he doesn’t understand.”

Avocato’s shoulders slump as he listens, and then he casts an eye at Little Cato.

“He’ll have to learn.”

And then he starts out of the room.

“Come on. We’re done here.”

Gary reaches down for the kit and cups the little paw in his hand as he, too, starts for the door.

They walk out of the house, and Little Cato is trying to focus on just getting home when thoughts strike him.

_They left you to die. Do you think they loved you?_

The voices overlap in his head, and his breaths pick up.

His paw slips out of Gary’s grip and he whirls around, beginning to feverishly search through the leaves.

“Little Cato?” Gary asks immediately, his voice laced with concern.

The Ventrexian kit continues searching, kicking the leaves up with his feet as tears bubble up in his eyes.

T _hey left you to die. Left you. All by yourself. If I hadn’t found you…_

_Little Cato’s foot hits against something, finally, and he bends to pick it up._

__

It’s a medium sized rock, and the realization draws in from the two adults watching as he whirls his body around to face the house.

__

_You think they loved you?_

He rears his arm back, tears streaming out of glaring eyes, skillful hand aimed to throw the rock at the bedroom window of the house.

“Little Cato-!”

“RAAAGH!” He pushes his arm forward as hard as he can, and feels the rock leave his grip.

The sound of glass shattering cuts across the air, and just as it happens, the voices stop.

He waits for the sound of an alarm to follow as he glares at the misshapen hole the rock made in the bedroom window. Nothing happens.

His respiratory issues kick in from the scream alone, and when Gary’s hand comes upon his shoulder, he stumbles back to the car and digs out his inhaler, trying to right the wrongs.

As the car rumbles back down the driveway, through the secluded woods, back for the crowded scene of their urban home, he gets one last look at that lonely, lonely house.

He doesn’t want to think about it, nor does he want to talk about it.

His parents seems just fine forgetting as well.


End file.
